Euromillions Winners Give Back to the Community

Since netting the UK’s biggest ever Euromillions jackpot of £161 million back in July 2011, Chris and Colin Weir have kept in the public eye – but luckily, for better reasons than a lot of other lottery winners (reference the ill-fated “lotto lout” Michael Carroll, who won and lost a £9.7 million fortune in less than eight years). The Weirs have instead impressed both the media and the general public with their overwhelming generosity to help charitable concerns. After the news that they have made yet another bequest, we take a look back at their previous donations:

Medical

• Medical Marvel: A boy from Kilmarnock can now have his expensive cancer operation thanks to the Weir’s generosity (£25,000).
• More Medical Marvels: Olympic Torchbearer Kieran Heighington, will get a new prosthetic limb after losing his leg to cancer thanks to a five figure donation from the Weirs (donation unknown).
• Multiple Medical Marvels: A four year old girl with celebral palsy will have life changing operation in America after the Weir’s donated the necessary funds (donation unknown).

Social

• Training Centre: The Weir’s paid for the refurbishment of an outdoor sports facility, the National Sports Training Centre in Inverclyde (at an estimated £102,000).
• Waverley Waver: The Waverely Paddle Steamer, which was threatened with being put into dry dock in 2011, was rescued by the Weirs, who gave an undisclosed donation to enable the boat to keep running (donation unknown).
• Arty Ayrshire: Donations to the community arts centre, The Beacon, in Greenock, will help refurb the kitchen and café areas (£130,000).

Political

• Political Ambition: The Scottish National Party is a whopping £1 million better off after receiving a political donation from the couple (£1 million).

Arts and Sports

• Artist License: The Weir’s have funded Larg’s artist Lee Craigmile to study art in Florence, Italy (£50,000)
• Sporting Hero: They paid for a new state-of-the-art community centre and park to be opened, named the Largs Thistle Community Club (at an estimated £700,000).
• Top Tennis: The couple helped raise funds to send a young tennis star to a coaching academy in Spain (donated a proportion of £50,000).
• Racing Green: Thanks to the Weir’s, a young upcoming racing driver can attend the European and Italian F3 European Abarth (cost unknown).

One thing is for certain – the Weir’s certainly are fulfilling their aim of “sharing their luck” after hitting that big jackpot, and with every donation more and more people are also benefiting from their incredible year. Lets hope more lottery winners follow in their footsteps and share their good fortune.